


I've Got A Good Feeling (doesn't happen very often)

by lesbianophelia



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Dates, Characters Playing Animal Crossing Game(s), Fluff, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, infodumping as love language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27934567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianophelia/pseuds/lesbianophelia
Summary: Zuko's so nervous about what may or may not be a date with his buddy Sokka that he eats way too much of a pot brownie Ty Lee offered to soothe his nerves. Turns out he's not awesome at being stoned.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 44
Kudos: 327





	I've Got A Good Feeling (doesn't happen very often)

**Author's Note:**

> like six months ago in a discord I'm in someone said "Zuko needs to smoke a bowl I think it would help" and I was like. lmao this kid is too high strung to have any fun when he's high. And then I thought about this AU for the next six months and finished it tonight after letting it languish in my drafts since July :) 
> 
> Title and partial premise from Demi Moore by Phoebe Bridgers.   
> I am moonsongdotmp3 on tumblr! :)

Though Zuko has been dreading the party for the better part of a week now, he’s unsurprised to find Sokka entirely at his element, posted up at a beer pong table out towards the middle of the rooftop. Sokka insisted that it wouldn’t be a problem, Zuko not knowing the girl hosting this party at her fancy upper ring apartment, but it still feels wrong to be here.   
  
Zuko isn’t really a party person. If he’s being honest, he’s not really even a _friends_ kind of person. Or he hasn’t been, since a few weeks ago when Sokka pretty forcefully decided that Zuko would be incorporated into his friend group. It’s been going fine, for the most part. Though he has this odd, sneaking suspicion that might change after tonight.   
  
Sokka hasn’t invited Zuko out alone yet. If he’s being honest, Zuko has no idea why he was invited tonight at all, let alone without the buffer of the rest of the group. Not that his friend seems to have had too much trouble finding others to hang out with while he waited for Zuko to show up. They’re girls, mostly. Which -- again -- Zuko finds entirely unsurprising. Sokka looks, somehow, even better than his average.   
  
Usually, he wears some old tank top and cargo pants or ripped jeans or board shorts, but today, he’s more dressed up than Zuko’s ever seen him, in a short sleeved button down, only a shade or two paler blue than his eyes. Even with the extra fabric, it would be impossible to miss the planes of his chest or the muscles in his arms, because the shirt is tucked so snugly into his dark pants.   
  
He’s even left his regular hair tie around his wrist, opting instead to leave his dark brown hair loose, some of it tucked back behind his ear to expose the messily grown out buzzed sides, but the rest falling down around his sharp jawline.   
  
“Oh, hey!” his whole face lights up when he sees Zuko and he wastes no time in crossing the rooftop, heading towards him with long, steady strides. “You made it!”   
  
“Yeah.” In comparison, Zuko feels wildly underdressed. He’s wearing _skinny jeans,_ for fuck’s sake. He opted for something more casual because he expected to be surrounded by others in faded band tees. Not pretty girls in sundresses and Sokka looking -- well. Like _that_.   
  
“I was just about to call and see if you’d gotten lost,” he laughs, wrapping an arm around Zuko’s shoulders and crushing him against his chest in a brief, crushing hug that he can’t help but lean too heavily into.   
  
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I was . . .” Zuko stops himself when he realizes that he doesn’t actually have an excuse. He’s late because he didn’t want to come. Because it took him an hour to hype himself up enough to leave the apartment, even with Ty Lee’s encouragement. Besides, finding words is somehow strange and hard. “I found it.”   
  
Sokka laughs. “Okay,” he says. “Do you want something to drink?” he asks. “Or, if you’re hungry, I think there’s, like . . . I don’t know.” He drags a hand back through his hair. “A bag of chips or something getting passed around. Kinda figured there’d be more food. It’s like no one thinks to bring a veggie platter anymore.”  
  
Zuko shakes his head, though he regrets it when he realizes exactly how dry his mouth is. “I’m good,” he says. “Thanks.”   
  
“You sure?” Sokka glances around, maybe trying to locate the snacks. “Well. I could introduce you around. Or--” he cuts himself off, eyebrows knitting together. Zuko’s stomach pitches towards his knees and he feels oddly caught. “Hey. You okay?”   
  
Nope. “I’m fine,” Zuko says, though he feels less convinced under Sokka’s scrutiny. His heart kicks up in his chest just a little. Especially because his friend looks so deeply skeptical.   
  
“Nah,” Sokka says. “You look weird. Like you’re all spaced out, or--”   
  
“I did something dumb,” Zuko interrupts to agree, because he might as well at this point.   
  
Sokka blinks. “Okay,” he says, easy. “What kinda dumb?”   
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Zuko says, reaching up to brush some hair off of the back of his neck. He leaves it loose all the time, but today it feels like too much. Overstimulating with the light breeze up on the roof. “You were gonna introduce me around?”   
  
This makes him laugh. Everything makes Sokka laugh. Zuko is fascinated at how it’s somehow not obnoxious. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.” He crosses his arms over his broad chest, attempting an intimidating look that he can’t quite manage with his lips jerking up and down, like he’s trying to figure out how to fight off his smile. “C’mon, Zuk. What’d you do?”   
  


The nickname -- just like any level of affection that he’s earned from Sokka -- knocks him off balance just a little bit. “I. Uh.” Zuko swallows. “I’m sorry.”   
  
“For what?” Sokka laughs, leaning back against the wall. “You’re making me a little nervous, man.”   
  
“Sorry,” Zuko says again. “I’m -- I should . . .” he turns, but he’s stopped by the pressure of Sokka’s hand closing around his arm. It’s not a tight grasp, but it is enough to freeze him in place. His hand is cold, as always.   
  
“Zuko.”   
  
He cracks. “I’m -- I was nervous,” he tries to explain. “And I was telling Ty Lee, so she said. You know. I should have something to take the edge off. But I ate the whole thing, and I think I probably . . . wasn’t supposed to do that.” He reaches up and rubs a hand against the back of his neck. “But I -- I’m fine. I just feel, uh.” He doesn’t know how to phrase it, so he uses the same hand to motion vaguely at the back of his throat, where his anxiety tightens up the most.   
  
The smile that’s been twitching at the edges of Sokka’s mouth takes over entirely, spreading like butter on hot toast. “Wait. So you’re saying you had an edible?” he fills in.   
  
Zuko nods, eyes fixed on his forearm, where Sokka is still gently holding onto him. “It’s -- I was _fine_ ,” he says. “But now I just . . .”   
  
“Yeah, that’s about how that goes,” Sokka laughs. “Okay. You wanna sit down for a minute?” he checks, and when Zuko doesn’t answer fast enough, he hauls him over to some makeshift seating and practically forces him to sit on one of the overturned milk crates. “Why were you nervous?” 

  
Zuko sputters out a little laugh, but Sokka just gives him a patient look, eyebrows raised in a patient but encouraging expression. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, but he can’t muster up a response. He just digs his elbows into his thighs and buries his face in his hands.   
  
Sokka’s hand finds Zuko’s back, fingers splayed wide. “ _Buddy_ ,” he draws the word out. “You okay?”   
  
Zuko coughs weakly. “I’m okay,” he lies. “I just -- I don’t know how to do this.”   
  
“How do what?” Sokka asks, and then his tone shifts into something more endeared. “Wait. How to be high? Have you never been high before?”   
  
“I -- once.” Zuko forces himself to take a deep breath.   
  
“With Ty Lee?”   
  
Zuko shakes his head. “No,” he says. “It was -- I smoked a bowl. In Jersey. Half a bowl. I . . . didn’t do a very good job when they passed it to me.”   
  
Sokka hums, rubbing his hand against Zuko’s back in a tiny, repetitive circle. “You wanna get out of here?”   
  
This convinces Zuko to lift his head. “Yeah,” he says. “Sorry. I should get out of here. You can enjoy the party, just--”   
  
“ _Dude_ ,” Sokka interrupts with an indulgent laugh. “Not what I asked.”   
  
Zuko blinks. “Are you sure?” he asks.  
  
“Positive,” Sokka says. “I just gotta go say bye to Yue. You want to come with me?”   
  
Zuko looks around, suddenly unwilling to be left alone on this rooftop. Everyone seems . . . friendly. It’s a problem. “Yes,” he says. “Yes. Please. I’ll come.”   
  
Sokka’s hand is bigger than his. It’s never been more evident than it is when he laces his fingers through Zuko’s and tugs him across the rooftop to meet some beautiful girl that makes Zuko feel unbelievably stupid. She’s got bleached white hair, so long that just the bun at the top of her head couldn’t contain it. There are two smaller braids that trail down over her exposed shoulders. Her shirt is ruffly and just on the casual side of sexy -- so much so that Zuko even gets it, a little, kinsey six that he is. That may just be because she looks vaguely like Sokka -- sharing little more than his coloring. That’s enough. Because Zuko is pathetic.   
  
“Yue,” Sokka raises his voice to be heard and she looks away from her conversation, beaming at Sokka. “Hey, we’re gonna head out.”   
  
“Noo!” she draws the word out. “You just got here!”   
  
Sokka laughs. Zuko opens his mouth to offer, again, to get out of here on his own. Ty Lee will feel guilty enough to come help him hide this from Uncle. At least, he hopes so. “I know, but hey! I’m living up to my promise! Yue, this is Zuko. Zuko, this is Yue.”   
  
“What promise?” Zuko’s brain is spinning like a plate on a stick as he tries to process the conversation happening around him. Sokka gives a sympathetic hum.   
  
“He said he would introduce me,” Yue fills in, holding a hand out for Zuko to shake. “Because it went so well for the both of us last time he introduced me to--”   
  
“Okay, okay,” Sokka interrupts, too quickly. And then he forces out a laugh. “We get it. You and Suki are very happy together. Tell her I said bye, okay?”   
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Yue laughs, waggling her dark eyebrows. “Have a good night, guys.”   
  
Sokka mumbles something that sounds a lot like _kiss my ass,_ and tugs Zuko forward, towards the stairwell he just came up.   
  
“I’m sorry,” Zuko says again, stopping them once the door is shut behind them. “I didn’t mean -- I’m sure you want to hang out with Yue. Instead.” Getting sentences out is like trudging through mud. It’s possible but unpleasant. It doesn’t take much to make Zuko want to go nonverbal on a good day, and being high has certainly exacerbated that. _It’ll calm you down,_ Ty Lee said. _I’ve never known anyone who needed one of my brownies more than you do, just, like, on a daily basis._ _  
_ _  
_ “Um,” Sokka says. “Last I checked, I invited _you_.”   
  
“Yeah, but--” Zuko realizes he shouldn’t keep arguing. “Dude. I hate this.”   
  
A confused, slightly hurt look flits across Sokka’s face, but he smooths it off quickly. “The party?” he asks. “You could have just said it’s not your thing, you know. We could have gone somewhere else.”   
  
“Oh. No, I meant,” he gestures with his head, letting it fall from one side to the other, because it feels full of sand. “The drugs.”   
  
Sokka barks out a relieved laugh. “Oh my god,” he says. “Okay. I’m gonna bring you back to my place and we’re gonna ride this out together. Yeah?” he waits for Zuko to bob his head in agreement before he offers his arm. “I don’t live too far from here. Maybe eight minutes on foot. You think we can hoof it, or you want me to call an uber?”   
  
Zuko cracks a smile at the consideration. “We can walk,” he says.   
  
They make the walk in something like sixteen minutes. Sokka apologizes in advance as they scale the seemingly endless steps to his apartment. “My sister and her boyfriend are here,” he says. “But if you follow my lead, we won’t have to deal with them very much.”   
  
“Oh. Okay,” Zuko says.   
  
  
Just as promised, Katara and some scrawny boy Zuko vaguely recognizes are parked on the couch, legs piled up on one another, tangled together as they play something that seems to require intense focus. Sokka tugs him forward, but the boy calls for a time-out, sitting up straight.   
  
“Sokka brought a _boy home_ ,” he half-choruses.   
  
“Hey, Zuko.” Katara slings her arm across the back of the couch. He’s met Katara. She’s fine. More like him than Sokka, though she’s a couple years younger than them. Shit, is she really Azula’s age? No, no, don’t think about Azula, fuck--   
  
“Katara. Hi,” he manages.   
  
“We’re just gonna hang out in my room,” Sokka says. “Zuko, this is Aang. He’s just back from a semester abroad. He’ll tell you all about Ba Sing Se later. Way more than you wanna hear.”   
  
Aang sticks his tongue out at Zuko.   
  
“This means your date went well, I take it,” Katara says, and Sokka blinks rapidly at the word and though Zuko has been inching towards the realization all night, it’s still a letdown. Not that he knew what he would have done with himself if this was really a date. Other than, obviously, get too high and ruin it.   
  
“Play your game,” Sokka mutters, guiding Zuko forward again to a room off at the end of the hallway. He leaves the light on at first, leaving only the screensaver from his desktop computer and the sunlight that comes in from the bedroom window, which faces a white brick wall a few yards away.   
  
“Nice view,” Zuko half-jokes.   
  
“Oh. Yeah,” Sokka says. “I mean, it means no one can see in, I guess? Which is what Katara told me to try to make me feel better about giving her the better room.”   
  
Zuko cracks a smile. Somehow, it’s not terribly surprising that Sokka has a loft bed. Or that it’s unmade, dark green quilt hanging over the side and down towards the worn couch that sits under the bed.   
  
“You can sit, if you want,” Sokka says. “Anywhere you want.”   
  
Zuko considers his options but decides against the desk chair, which has a couple of button-downs strewn over the back. Odd. He perches on the side of the couch that isn’t blocked by the couch. Sokka offers a tight smile.   
  
“You want something to drink?” he asks. “I have, uh. Soda. Water. Whatever you want.”   
  
“Soda sounds nice,” Zuko admits. He never had it around, growing up. And for whatever reason, something sweet seems like a great idea right now. Or something salty. Crunchy. “Do you have food?”   
  
Sokka laughs, leaning back against the crowded desk as he does. Zuko can’t believe how many notebooks and scraps of loose paper he’s managed to fit on the surface. The drawers must be a nightmare. “Do I have _food_?” he repeats. “Yeah, probably. You want snacks?” he doesn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll get you snacks. You can find something to watch, if you want.” He leans over and Zuko definitely does not look at his ass while he types in a clearly complicated password. Except that he does. He can’t help himself. At least he manages to feel ashamed. As if that makes it better. “Or -- I don’t know. Whatever you want to do.” He gestures towards a nintendo switch and Zuko feels a strange twitch of longing in his chest at the sight of it. “I’ll be back. With food.”   
  
As soon as the door is shut behind Sokka, Zuko dives for the switch. He had a DS as a kid -- and a copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf that he shamelessly stole from Azula after she got it as a gift and hated it too much to even try it. He tries to remind himself that Sokka probably isn’t the type to have a game like this on his device -- that his library probably looks exactly like Azula’s and fuck, _god,_ stop thinking about Azula.   
  
But there it is. Just behind some Legend of Zelda game that Zuko has heard is amazing. He sighs, inordinately pleased, and repositions onto the couch, sinking in against the cushions while he waits for the game to load. He can’t really make out what’s being said out in the kitchen, just that Katara and Sokka are discussing something and Sokka is -- frustrated? Maybe? Or he could be playing. Zuko has a hard time reading that sometimes. Most of the time. Even when he isn’t high. One good thing about the pot brownie, he guesses, is that he’s less anxious about that than he usually is. While he’s thinking about it, he fishes his phone out of his skinny jeans and texts Ty Lee, which is more of a challenge than he thought it would be.   
  
**Zuko:** _How long????_ _  
_ _  
_**Zuko:** _you made me like this. How long._ _  
_ _  
_**Zuko:** _this is so embarrassigngg i hate you_ _  
_ _  
_**Zuko:** _embasrasing_ _  
_ _  
_**Zuko:** _embarrassing._ _  
_ _  
_**Zuko:** _and it’s not a date im right forever and always._

By the time he’s finished his string of mostly legible texts, Isabelle has wished all the residents of **nomanisan** a good evening and talked about finding a missing sock and he can feel his lips turning up into a smile despite himself. She’s so cute.   
  
“Hey.” Sokka appears in the doorway with a truly impressive armful of snacks. A bowl of popcorn and a couple of cans of soda tucked against his chest. A bag of chips hanging from his fingers. A half empty package of redvines. “How you holding up? Any better?”   
  
“Little better,” Zuko admits, watching, entranced, as Sokka yanks down the blanket from the loft bed and sits on the couch beside him, arranging the snacks on the floor in front of them.   
  
“What’d you find?” he asks, leaning over to peer over Zuko’s shoulder. “Good choice. Nothing like getting high and playing animal crossing.”   
  
Zuko looks up, surprised all over again that this is something Sokka’s into. “I didn’t know you liked it.”   
  
He smiles, big and toothy. “You can’t tell by the four hundred-something hours I’ve logged?” he kids.   
  
“How can I get to the map?” Zuko asks, more than willing to pass the controller over to Sokka. He’s mostly been walking around the island. Very slowly, it feels like. Not that he minds. Sokka briefly explains the options the little smartphone brings up and passes the switch back to Zuko, who can’t help crying out, “You have Phoebe! She was my favorite.”  
  
“Oh, you’ve gotta see her house,” Sokka leans even closer, giving directions and teaching Zuko how to run, admitting with a laugh that he runs everywhere in the game. “It’s so cool. I hope she’s at home.”   
  
Zuko glances over at Sokka, surprised when their eyes meet and linger for a long moment. An awkward laugh bubbles up inside of him and he tries to go back to what he was doing, though he’s acutely aware of Sokka’s presence at his side.   
  
After that, Sokka takes it upon himself to share as much knowledge as he can about each villager. Which is, admittedly, a lot. He explains, gesticulating with the remains of a piece of licorice, how he still streams whenever he can, even though there’s less to show off now that he’s mostly happy with his island setup.   
  
“People are just really attached to my villagers,” he laughs. “I mean. Not that I blame them. So am I.”   
  
“This is so cool,” Zuko admits, hushed, and Sokka laughs, bending over to grab the bowl of popcorn.   
  
Before he can help himself, Zuko finds himself spilling. About his old town in New Leaf. About how he never talked about it out loud because he knew his father would be unimpressed that he liked something so . . . sweet.   
  
“Your dad sounds like a dick,” Sokka says plainly. Maybe normally it would make Zuko tense, but today it just pulls a laugh out of him.   
  
“You don’t even know,” he says. And then he blinks for a second too long, awareness creeping back in at how disconnected from his body he feels. And yet, oddly rooted right in down to his feet. “God. I don’t get how Ty Lee does this on purpose all the time.”   
  
Sokka laughs. “Still feeling it?”   
  
“She said it would be fun.” He lets his head fall back against the top of the couch. Feels Sokka ease the console out of his hands.   
  
“It can be,” Sokka says. “I think it depends on the person. I mean, and the strain, obviously. But I’d never have started you off with an edible. Especially not right before a party. I mean, that’s just asking for trouble.”   
  
Zuko makes a small inquisitive noise.   
  
“I mean, edibles can be great,” he continues. “But. Yeah. I’d have given you like, half a joint and made sure I was holding it more of the time. Ease you in a little.”   
  
“So you smoke,” Zuko forgets to make it a question.   
  
Sokka snorts. “Dude,” he says. “I’m not sure you’ve ever seen me not at least a little stoned.”   
  
“I -- but -- you -- we have classes together!” Classes where Sokka is engaged. Alert. The smartest person in the class. Obviously, he doesn’t feel like a wrung out washcloth when he’s high.   
  
“Yeah,” Sokka says. “Especially before tests.”   
  
“Jesus Christ,” Zuko half-whines. “Are you just good at _everything_?”   
  
Well. That’s a question he didn’t mean to ask out loud. Maybe ever. Though it is one he’s found himself wondering constantly since he met him.   
  
“I mean,” Sokka laughs. “I am _very_ good at functioning while high. Yes. But that takes years of experience.”   
  
“Ty Lee is, too,” grumbles Zuko. “I never should have listened to her. She said it would help.”   
  
“With what?” Sokka prods, but it’s gentle.   
  
“I was so nervous.” Zuko laughs drily. “Just knew I would fuck it up. And that was when I thought it was a date. So. Even worse.”   
  
“Wait--”   
  
“Sorry. I’m -- god. I suck at this. I suck.”   
  
“You don’t suck,” Sokka has that indulgent tone again -- one he takes it a lot with Zuko, now that he thinks about it. “But. Just to be clear. You said yes knowing it was a date.”   
  
_Knowing._ “I thought-- I mean. Hoped, I guess.” Zuko closes his eyes tight. “Obviously not. But--”   
  
“Obviously? Why obviously?”   
  
“Because --” Zuko gestures vaguely. He overestimates how much room is between the two of them and smacks right into Sokka’s broad chest. Before he can move, Sokka’s big hand flies up, pinning it there. “Sorry.”   
  
“Stop being sorry,” Sokka says. “What’s obvious?”   
  
“You’re -- you,” Zuko says dumbly. “And. Yue.”   
  
“Yue, my ex girlfriend?” he laughs. “Okay. That one’s easy. She’s gay.”   
  
Zuko cracks an eye open.   
  
“I mean, fully,” he continues. “She didn’t realize until like, a year into our whole. Thing. And then she proceeded to pretty much instantly get into a relationship with Suki, who met her for the first time while she was out on a date with me. Which is what she meant about it going well for both of us last time I introduced her to one of my dates.”   
  
“Oh.”   
  
“Yeah, _oh_ ,” Sokka laughs. “I mean. I wanted to come pick you up.”   
  
“You live on the other side of town!” Zuko protests, though it comes out around a laugh.   
  
“No shit,” Sokka says. “But that’s what you do when you’re on a date.”   
  
“It’s not like I didn’t want it to be a date,” Zuko tries to defend. “I just -- couldn’t ever tell.”   
  
Sokka laughs, fingers twitching against Zuko’s. “So you got just -- totally zooted. For me. Because you were nervous?” he confirms. “That’s kinda cute, Zuk.”   
  
Zuko laughs. And then he laughs some more. “Oh my god,” he manages to suck in a deep breath, but something has busted. Like Sokka has popped the top off of him like champagne. He presses his free hand against his mouth like that’ll stop it, but he’s off now.   
  
“God,” Sokka brings Zuko’s hand to his mouth, grinning too hard to actually kiss at his knuckles. “See, I could have kissed you tonight if you hadn’t gotten so high.”   
  
“Oh, that’s not fair.” Zuko finally manages to lift his head. “You still could.”   
  
Sokka shrugs. “I’d prefer you not to be having an awful time when that happens. Plus, like. Consent stuff. Pretty sure it’s good manners.”   
  
“You said you were stoned too,” Zuko tries to negotiate. But Sokka just laughs, which sets off more giggling, even as he pulls Zuko in against his chest.   
  
“I’m not high like you’re high,” he laughs. “Pretty sure I haven’t been high like you’re high in like, five years.”   
  
Zuko shakes his head against Sokka’s chest, miserable but unable to argue completely. That tracks.   
  
“I feel like I should be making you listen to Pink Floyd or The Cure or something,” he jokes.   
  
“No,” Zuko moves a little closer. “If I fall asleep now am I gonna wake up sober?”   
  
“Mm,” Sokka considers, one hand finding the back of Zuko’s neck through his long hair. “Sober- _er_.”   
  
“Not a word.”   
  
“Who’s the expert here?”   
  
Zuko laughs. “Hey. Talk to me more about Animal Crossing. Like your voice.”   
  
Sokka’s laugh rumbles through his chest, shaking Zuko, too. “Okay,” he says. “But you’re gonna have to learn how to stop me once you get me started on this kinda shit, or I’ll go all day. Drives Katara crazy.”   
  
“Mmph,” Zuko doesn’t bother lifting his head, sure he won’t have to worry about that. “Who were your starters?” 

**Author's Note:**

> Sokka as a twitch streamer is a blink and you miss it reference of course to Quarantine and Chill 2020 by haircrescendo, the first zukka modern AU I ever read. 
> 
> Also I think both these guys are on the spectrum and that they would infodump to each other endlessly about. Literally Whatever. in this case, ACNH.


End file.
